baby steps and comfort food

I’m working my way through my recent and very upsetting lack-of-enjoyment-with-cooking phase.

After talking with a few of you about this weird empty-nest phenomenon, I decided to start back with the basics.

I started with very simple foods. I also padded my bet by only cooking my favorite comfort foods.

My attitude really began to change the night that I was so bored with cooking that my dinner consisted of a glass of wine, cheese and crackers. My attitude was “Screw it. I can survive on wine and cheese and crackers. Who needs to cook when I can get everything I need using a cork screw and a cheese cutter?”

Well, that was all good…for the majority of the night. I went to bed with a good book ready for a good night’s sleep until the stomach started to growl….and moan…and then scream for food. Kent was already asleep when I got out of bed and he asked where I was going. I was just slightly embarrassed when I told him “I’m going to make some macaroni and cheese with hotdogs in it.”

The most basic of comfort foods: macaroni and cheese with hotdogs. It was delicious. It made me thoroughly happy and it reinforced that I could still cook something that tasted wonderful.

And so it began. The next night: tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. YUM!

At this point I also decided that I want to stay away from processed foods as much as I can (except when the occasional urge for Kraft Mac and Cheese with hotdogs hits me).

So, this week I made eggplant parmigiana. The eggplant was from the farmers market. I dipped it in eggs and then flour, panko, and seasonings and browned it to perfection. I cooked homemade spaghetti sauce from my home-canned tomatoes and flavored it with my frozen homemade pesto. I layered it all with some mozzarella and baked it until it looked like a picture out of a magazine. It was FABULOUS! (Too bad, so sad for Kent that he doesn’t like eggplant…it just left more for ME!)

Tonight was some simple boneless pork ribs grilled with some awesome BBQ sauce that we bought at a great little restaurant on Grand Ave in St. Paul. I then baked a buttercup squash (another purchase from the farmer’s market) with some butter and brown sugar. Again….pure perfection.

I think I’m getting my cooking groove back. I’ve missed it.